Hawaii Daily News Read

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

October 7, 2026 News Read

By Andrew Walden @ 9:32 AM :: 164 Views

Mail-in Ballots Should Arrive by October 16

State to Provide 12 Temporary Housing Units for Naalehu

Flu Up, COVID Down: DoH Recommends Vaccinations

Decade Later: City to Demolish Former Brothel Site

Maui Man Admits to Mailing Packages of Methamphetamine and Cocaine from California to Maui

Secret Tourism Industry Documents Expose ‘Indigenous stewardship’ as luxe retail sales scheme behind Charter Amendments

SA: … When Andy Warhol declared that “Business art is the step that comes after art,” he anticipated the modern luxury playbook. Today, global luxury houses deploy “artsification” to elevate brand prestige. Allocating 15%-20% of flagship floor space to nonselling exhibition zones extends customer dwell time by 25%-40%. In commercial real estate, where every 1% increase in dwell time yields a 1.3% boost in store sales, treating art and heritage as equity has become standard.

But when luxury houses expand into ‘culturally rich’ destination markets, this playbook hits a wall.

(CLUE: This is a sales pitch for a ‘yes’ vote on Honolulu Charter Amendments 2 and 3.)

Hawaii’s pivot toward high-value, regenerative tourism has driven daily visitor spending past $312 per person. Commercial corridors along Waikiki’s Kalakaua Avenue and Ala Moana Center generate top-tier productivity, exceeding $1,400 per square foot in sales….

luxury retailers risk superficial tokenism. This triggers consumer skepticism among high-spending travelers, who want authentic storytelling, while alienating locals through perceived cultural extraction.

To build brand equity in heritage-rich markets, luxury retail leadership should move from ad-hoc curation to systematic stewardship…. (insert sales pitch for Charter Amendments 2 and 3 here)

(IQ Test: Are you laughing?)

… deploy restorative capital to institutionalize profit-sharing beyond sporadic capsule collections. Internal retail studies (ie secret tourism industry documents) show that applying luxury clienteling and host protocols to experiential environments drives a 37% increase in transaction spend and a 22% increase in donor conversion….

Andy Warhol was right that business can be an art, but in culturally grounded economies, it cannot exist for its own sake. The future of global luxury lies in proving that commercial performance and authentic indigenous stewardship (malama) are interconnected….

TRANSLATION: Recent luxe retail studies (see two links below) promote ultra-personalization as the key to brand loyalty. But if the persona is replaced by a media-imposed desire for indigenous 'authenticity' (this media-imposed desire is the defining characteristic of a 'culturally rich destination' such as Hawaii) then that quest for 'authenticity' becomes a substitute for the persona and individuality can thereby be mass produced! Result: Mega Profits rolling off the Waikiki Assembly Line!

CEGID: Clienteling: a growth driver for luxury brands

EHL Insights: Clients are not just buying a product. They are buying into the quality of the encounter.

LINK: Complete List of All Hawaii 2026 Ballot Questions State and County

Read … Column: Indigenous stewardship lifts luxe retail | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Honolulu Waits 700% Longer For Permits than in 2000

CB: … Permit delays across America have, on average, doubled since the early 2000s, while the levels of building activity have fluctuated widely over the same period, the data shows.

The typical single-family home permit in the U.S. took an average of two months to be approved in 2002, but now takes four, according to Evan Soltas, Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University.

And while it once took an average of six months to get a permit for a 20-unit apartment building, it now takes a year, Soltas said.

“This represents a massive slowdown in the average regulatory performance across the United States,” he said.

The increase in the average wait time in Honolulu blows the national benchmark out of the water. In 2000, a permit for a 2,800-square-foot single-family home in Honolulu involved an average wait time of more than two months, but by 2024, it was over 14 months. …

Since at least 2015, Honolulu has been sitting in the top 25% of cities with the longest delay times for permitting and building standard single-family and multi-family homes, rubbing shoulders with Seattle, Boston and Providence, but performing better than Los Angeles or New York.

Comparing a sample of building projects in U.S. cities between 2015 and 2019, Honolulu had the 10th-longest wait times with a total project time of just over two years for an archetypal single-family home….

A 20-unit multi-family apartment building in Honolulu would have taken 14 months to get final approval and three years and change to build, according to the data from 2015 through 2019….

PDF: Durations_DSW2026.pdf

read … While Honolulu Waits For Permits, These Cities Are Already Building - Honolulu Civil Beat

Rising Interest Rates Drive Up Cost of Home Ownership

SA: … The median resale price for Oahu single-family homes dipped in September to its lowest point for any month this year amid more demand from buyers as average interest rates rose above 7%.

Previously owned single-family homes on the island sold for a median $1,110,000 last month, down 3.9% from $1,155,000 a year earlier, according to a Honolulu Board of Realtors report released Tuesday.

The price decline was modest, but it followed three straight months of increases over 10% and was bigger than two other decreases earlier this year — dips of 1.7% in April and 0.8% in May….

“Even small rate increases meaningfully affect what households can afford,” UHERO said in its report.

The organization calculated that the monthly cost of financing a roughly $1 million single-family house with a 20% down payment and a conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen $270 this year, to $5,295 from $5,025. For a median-priced condo, interest rate increases have added $140 to the typical monthly payment for buyers, UHERO added.

UHERO’s report also said maintenance fees for condo ownership in Hawaii have increased 60% since 2000 after accounting for inflation, and that the monthly fee for most condo owners is over $800, or 50% more than the national median.

Over the first nine months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, Oahu median home sale prices were up 3.1% to $1,180,000 for single-family houses, and up 2.5% to $515,000 for condos….

Read … Oahu single-family home price weakened in September | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Star-Adv: Will Audit Let us Cover up Kauhale Sex Toy Scandal? (Homeless Scam #1)

SA: … SOHHS and HomeAid’s recent shoring-up of kauhale operations was overdue; time, and the upcoming state audit, will tell if deeper improprieties will overtake an otherwise worthy concept to help the houseless….

REALITY: Next Scandal: Kauhale program paid for director’s sex toys

Read … Editorial: Clean up kauhale’s messy operations | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaiʻi County Council Could Extend Homeless Fund Before Audit Is Done (Homeless Scam #2)

CB: … The Hawaiʻi County Council is deciding whether to push the sunset date for the Homeless and Housing Fund – before an audit they requested of it is even done.

The county has given over $30 million through the fund to local organizations serving homeless or at-risk individuals and families and those struggling with mental illness and addiction. The money comes from property tax revenue from luxury second homes.

However, some council members and residents have expressed concerns that the money hasn’t made a clear dent in reducing the homeless population on Hawaiʻi island. An audit of the program was requested earlier this year by the council to determine whether the money was spent effectively.

The audit was meant to help determine the future of the program, which currently sunsets in 2027, council members said at the time. But now they want to extend the fund for two more years.

Bill 192 would do that. It was introduced by Council Chair Holeka Inaba, who also co-introduced the resolution requesting the audit with Councilwoman Heather Kimball.…

read … Hawaiʻi County Council Could Extend Homeless Fund Before Audit Is Done - Honolulu Civil Beat

Hilo judge overrules planning commission, grants permit for Keaukaha apartment complex

HTH: … The commission on Aug. 1, 2024, took testimony from six members of the public about the project, mostly negative, at a meeting where Lin informed all in attendance there wasn’t a quorum and no votes would be taken.

At the meeting on Sept. 5, 2024, the commission heard presentations recommending approval from Alex Roy, a Planning Department staffer, and John Pipan, Jayasinghe’s land-use planner. Both affirmed Jayasinghe had agreed to the proposed conditions in the Planning Department’s recommendation, plus two additional conditions concerning fire protection measures and archaeological monitoring.

At the 2024 meeting’s conclusion, Daniele made a motion to deny the permit on the grounds that “the community doesn’t want this in their community,” Kubota’s ruling states.

“Obviously, they don’t want it, quite frankly I think it’s an eyesore …,” Daniele is quoted as having said while making the motion. “I don’t know how much time this guy from Texas has spent here.”

Then-Deputy Corporation Counsel Suzanne Tiapula pressed Daniele to clarify the basis of his motion for the record, to which Daniele replied, “the density of the project, the amount of people, the amount of traffic, the amount of infrastructure needs this thing is going to have to have,” according to the document.

In his ruling, Kubota wrote the project “is consistent with the objectives” of applicable law and commission rules and “is consistent with the county’s General Plan, the Hilo Community Development Plan and Zoning Code.”

“Specifically, the project would meet the criteria to increase rental opportunities and choices in terms of quality, cost, amenity, style, and size of housing, especially for low- and moderate-income households,” the judge noted….

read … Hilo judge overrules planning commission, grants permit for Keaukaha apartment complex - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Big Island Wants To Ban ‘Big Data Centers’, but can’t agree on what they are

CB: … Bill 170, introduced by Councilwoman Heather Kimball, seeks to make sure data centers like the ones ruffling feathers across the continent are not permitted anywhere on the Big Island. If it passes, construction of large data centers would be banned with one caveat: they can apply for a special use permit.

The bill was heard for a second time by the Windward Planning Commission on Thursday. The Leeward Planning Commission will take up the issue on Oct. 15.

So far, however, the biggest hurdle is figuring out how to define what would qualify as a data center under the proposed new rules.

“If we get a really good definition, I think that could solve a lot of things,” said Louis Daniele, chair of the Windward Commission. “We keep calling things data centers, data processing facilities – That’s kind of confusing for the layperson.” …

read … Big Island Wants To Ban Big Data Centers, Once They Agree On What They Are - Honolulu Civil Beat

Why Talk Of Football Brain Injuries Is Taboo In Hawaiʻi

CB: … Local doctors don’t want to comment on the risks young people face playing tackle football, despite mounting research detailing those risks….

read … Makana Eyre: Why Talk Of Football Brain Injuries Is Taboo In Hawaiʻi - Honolulu Civil Beat

Waipahu Gang Killer Foolishly Leaves Soft on Crime Hawaii, Killed by Police in Nevada

SA: … A 48-year-old Waipahu man who was convicted in the killing of a 23-year-old man in Wahiawa in 1997 shot a woman in Henderson, Nev., on Saturday before two police officers shot and killed him.

Ropati Iosefo Tauiliili of Waipahu … was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1999 ~~but never admitted to~~ (for) shooting 23-year-old Robert Morris during a confrontation outside an Ohai Place apartment in February 1997. ~~He maintained he was not there at the time of the shooting~~.

The ~~ex-~~gang member from Waipahu was arrested in 1997 on suspicion of second-degree murder, a week before he was to testify at a youth forum in Washington, D.C. (LOL!) Tauiliili agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree assault, first-degree terroristic threatening and a firearms charge, rather than face a third trial and a potential sentence of life in prison.

Tauiliili’s first trial ended in a deadlocked jury. ~~Jury misconduct~~ (Slick shystering) derailed his second trial in March 1998, after he was found guilty of manslaughter.

(But then he left the safe environs of Hawaii and …) At about 3:45 p.m. Saturday, Henderson police officers responded to a domestic violence call in the 2000 block of Club Crest Way, near Warm Springs Road, according to police.

“Officers learned that a family member had come to the residence, battered a family member and pointed a firearm at multiple family members. The suspect left before officers arrived, and officers began searching for him,” read the statement….Later that evening, HPD officers were called back to the same house and found an “adult woman with gunshot wounds.” Tauiliili had gone back to the home and shot into it from the outside with a long gun, police said….

During the continuing investigation Saturday, officers learned Tauiliili was at the 6000 block of Eastern Avenue at a funeral home. He had “told an acquaintance he intended to provoke a confrontation with police and threatened suicide by cop,” police said.

Officers from the Henderson Police Department, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Clark County Office of Public Safety responded, along with Metro’s Air Unit. When officers arrived, Tauiliili fired at Henderson police officers and at Metro’s Air Unit drones.

Henderson Police SWAT was activated and responded to the scene, joined by Metro SWAT.

“While officers worked to establish dialogue with (Tauiliili), he fired at officers again, and two Henderson Police officers fired their weapons, striking the suspect,” police said….

1999: An ex-gang member who pleaded guilty to assault for shooting a man in Wahiawa in February 1997 wants to get on with his life, says his defense attorney.

PDF: Appealed for mandatory minimum release in 2005 but had to wait to 2007 instead.

2026 -- Different Fake Gang Counselor: Second Man Charged with Murder of Fake 'Gang Counselor' over Drug Dealing Debts

read … Nevada police fatally shoot Waipahu man, 48, convicted in 1997 killing | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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